


The Choices We Make

by dragonshost



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-29 06:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12624768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/pseuds/dragonshost
Summary: Meredy, Gray, and Juvia have made their choices.





	The Choices We Make

Twice, she’d seen Gray and Juvia die.

The first time, she’d screamed as the island he was on disappeared in a flash of light, and the rush of the sea.  It was over so quickly, she could hardly process what she’d witnessed.  Gray had saved Ultear, her mother, and Juvia had saved her; a debt she couldn’t ever begin to repay, when they’d given her everything.  But in an instant, they were gone forever.  And she’d had to live the next seven years for them, too.

The second time, she’d stood by in horror as Gray pushed Juvia out of the way, taking the attacks meant for her.  One passing through his chest, multitudes more through the rest of him.  Until that final one, opening up a gaping hole in his head – a mess of dark blood and brain matter splattered across the ground.  Juvia screaming for him, her heart torn to shreds and with it her reason for living.  And his brother calling desperately for a healer, despite the clear evidence that it was too late.  And no one listening when she quietly declared him dead.

One moment her face was streaked with tears of grief, the cries of her companions ringing in her ears, and then the next she was being thrown bodily to the floor.  A heavy weight pressed against her back, and when she lifted her head… there he was.  Bruised, dirty, and bleeding from several shallow cuts, but very much alive.  He’d stared at himself; the spectre of death behind his eyes.  Juvia and Lyon stared, too.

Twice, she’d watched them die.

She wasn’t there for the third time.

But the aftermath was hers, as she touched the scars they bore from his encounter with the wizard that had pitted him against each other.  Gnarled, and proof that they still remained with her when all others had disappeared.

“Till Death do we part,” Juvia had once stated of her relationship with Gray.  And now both had, thrice.  And had thrice more bound Meredy to them.

With the cutting of the ice chains, Juvia shattered too her hold on Gray.  Never again would she bind him, she swore.  If he came back to her, then it would be because it was his choice, and not out of obligation to her.

They would have both cut their chains to Meredy as well if they were given half a chance, she feared.

But this time, it was Meredy who chose.  These were not ties she would willingly sever.

And she chose both of them.


End file.
